Garment.



n. c. Wsw-:Al

GABMENT.

aimcmxun min mums. 1915.

Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

. UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

DENNIS C. OSHEA, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GARMENT.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DENNIS C. OSHEA, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inGarments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in garmentsand my object is, in general, to provide in combination with a garmentof the character of a shirt, a girdle or waist portion carrying a partso arranged as to pass under the wearer, thereby forming a fectlyperform its functions as such, and at the same time exert a slightdownward pull on the garment from the shoulders thereof and cause it toiit snugly to the body of the wearer.

Itis a further object of my invention to provide an improvedconstruction of those vention will more fully l lower portion oftheportions of a garment which form thejock strap .or supporter.

Other objects and advantages of my inappear from the following detaildescription of a specific embodiment thereof. In this description,reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is a front elevation of an athletic or swimming shirtconstructed in accordance with my invention, the tongue or flap beingshown as hanging downward'vin the inoperative position. Fig. 2 is afront elevation of a girdle constructed in accordanceV with my insubstance nothing more or less than the shirt shown in Fig. 1, but theHap, or tongue, being shown in the raised or operative position. Fig. 3is an nlarged section 'taken on the line 3 of Referring moreparticularly to the drawing, the numeral 10 designates the body of myshirt, which in the illustration is shown as" of the sleeveless typecommonly used for swimming` or athletic shirts. This shirt willpreferably be constructed of knitted. or other elastic fabric in orderto adapt itself most readily to the curves of the body.

The numeral 11 indicates the waist portion or girdle of the shirtwhich,'as shown, is cut short at the side to terminate at or slightlybelow the level of the hip of the wearer. The front section of thegirdle Specification of Letters Patent.

shape of the flap 12 but siderably below the same and has its lowerinvention, this girdle being- Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

Application led August 13, 1915. Serial N o. 45,326.

portion 11 is extended downward to form a tongue or flap 12 of such alength as to ,l

reach or perhaps extend a little beyond the crotch of the wearer. Therear portion of the girdle is extended to form a tongue or Hap 13 which,at its upper end, is of the which extends conportion enlarged, as at 14.The front or tongue 12 is buttons, as shown, and the enlarged portionflap 14 of the rear iap 13 is provided with corresponding button-holes.l

In Fig. 2 of the drawings, the uppervor body portion 10 of the shirt hasbeen omitted, the garment being shown as a simple girdle 11', on whichthe flaps 12 and 13 are formed in precisely the same manner as wasdescribed in connection with the entire shirt shown in Fig. 1.

In the'use of mv device the shirt body 10 or the girdle l1 will be puton in the customary manner, the aps 12 and 13 being at that timedisconnected as shown in Fig. 1. When thel garment is in place on thebody, the flap 13 will be passed between the legs of the wearer andbrought upwardly in front to lie over the flap 12. In the normal use ofthe device, the end button-holes 15 will then be engaged over the endbuttons 16, while the central button-hole 17 which, as shown, is inalinement with the button-holes 15, will be engaged over a button 18 outof alinement with and considerably below the buttons' 16. By this methodof securing the iiap 13 tothe iiap 12, a highly efficient jock-strap orathletes supporter is formed. The requisites of such .a supporter are,in general, that it should maintain the male private organs in aninverted position and above the pubis bone, so

that they are completely removed from the noted that the endbutton-holes 15 being se# provided with a plurality of i s tongue 13,thereby efficiently preventing the accidental displacement of the organsduring violent exercise, while the central buttonhole 17 'being engagedover the lower button 18 permits the yielding fabric of which thegarment'is formed to bell outwardly to form a medial fullness `or pocket20, whereby the parts are relieved from any undue pressure which mightcause serious inconvenience, but are nevertheless held with sucientrmness to prevent them from dropping downwardly into the crotch. Theadvantages of my invention are best obtained when the garment isconstructed of knitted'fabric, as described, for the reason that thepocket or pouch 20 will then form itself without the slightest wrinklingand by reason of the manner in which the tongues are secured together.The exact form of this pouch or pocket is best shown in thecross-sectional view, Fig. 3.

In order to fit the garment for a greater range of adj ustability thanis provided by the yielding qualities of the lfabric itself, I mayprovide a second series of securing buttons, designated 16 and 18respectively, suitably secured in `a position lower down on the tongue12 than are the buttons 16 and 18. It is obvious that by securing thelower flap 13 to this Alower series of buttons, the effecti'velength ofthe garment, as of the shirt 10, is increased. t

To still further increase the range of usefulness of my garment, I mayprovide a button 20 in alinement with the top button 16.

If the garment is then worn by one who does not desire to take advantageof the pocket or pouch 20the central button-hole 17 may.

be secured over the button 20', in which case the tongues 12, 13, willlie smooth and tight against the abdomen. -By suitably spacing the rowsof buttons on the .tongue` 12, the lower button 18 may be placed inalinement with the end buttons .16 so that when the i flap 13 is securedto these latter buttons, the central buttonhole 17 thereof may beengaged over the button 18 to obtain the same effect as is obtained whenthe buttons 16 and 20 are in use.

While my invention is particularly useful and possesses certain peculiaradvantages when embodied in a bathing orathletic shirt of substantiallythe type shown in Fig. 1, it is nevertheless in its broader aspectscapable of application to any body garment of the nature of a shirt orto a simple girdle, loin-cloth, or supporter, such as is illustrated byFig. 2.

Wh'le I have described in considerable detail one specific embodiment ofmy invention in the foregoing description, it is to be understood that4such description is not )to be regarded as limiting my invention, butis to be regarded as illustrative only and for the purpose of renderingmy invention more clear, and I do not regard my invention as limitedthereto, except in so far as such limitations have been included withinthe terms of the following claim.

What I claim is: A

A shirt having a narrowed lower front portion extending downwardly toform a flap or tongue and provided on its front face with a pluralityof' buttons set at varying heights, and a rear tongue or ap portion of alength adapted to extend forwardly be neath the crotch of the wearer andupwardly 4on the front ap or tongue portion and provided adjacent itsfree end with a series of button-holes adapted to engage at varyingheights the buttons on the front vflap or tongue portion, to produce amedial fullness or pouch portion and a lateral tension at its edges forthe purpose set forth.-

l DENNIS C. GSIIEA.

In presence ofrJOHN M. FELDHAKE,

WILLIAM C. KING.

